Smartphones make you stupid, so does Twitter make you a twit? So say researchers.....

[Fred Sanders]

Even Just the Presence of a Smartphone Lowers the Quality of In-Person Conversations
BY TOM JACOBS • July 14, 2014

New research finds having a mobile device within easy reach divides your attention, even if you’re not actively looking at it.

•

“Staying connected” is the unspoken mantra of the smartphone generation. We now have the ability to instantaneously link up with nearly any information source, and tap into a live feed of what’s happening in our social circle.

However, critics have long warned that this non-stop barrage of news and trivia is inevitably distracting, making it more difficult to maintain the focused attention necessary for truly meaningful communication.

Luddite nonsense? Actually, no. Newly published research suggests that the mere presence of a cell phone or smartphone can lessen the quality of an in-person conversation, lowering the amount of empathy that is exchanged between friends.

http://www.psmag.com/navigation/nature-and-technology/presence-smart-phone-lowers-quality-person-conversations-85805/

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Communicating on internet comment boards suffers the same lack of human connection, it leads to miscommunication, which leads to a hearing a certain "tone of voice", and then we get threads off on tangents of nonsense and personal animosity.

Occupational hazard. It is just the way it is.

Which segues nicely with this:

10% of conflicts are due to a difference of opinion and 90% are due to wrong tone of voice.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025246044

[Spider Jerusalem]

1. That reminds me of a hilarious faux pas David Cameron made in the 2010 UK election campaign.

He was talking to someone on the BBC (on live radio, at 8 in the morning), and Twitter came up...and he said something along the lines of "Well, the problem with things like Twitter is that too many tweets might make a twat". He then had to have it explained to him that he'd said something rude.

[leftstreet]

2. Meh. The system hates it when the proles communicate

Articles like this have been sprouting up for years

'meaningful conversation'
What the hell does that even mean?

Every time the ruling class notices the masses are communicating with the latest Tech-Created-To-Sell-You-Shit, they have a minor freakout

[whistler162]

3. I think researchers make you stupid!

a study for everything and everything is bad!

[tridim]

4. I'm having serious trouble finding people to date who aren't addicted to their phones.

Mobile addiction is becoming a real cultural problem IMO.

[Skittles]

9. people who cannot stay away from their handhelds are pathetic

seriously, they're pathetic

[bigwillq]

10. I can stay away if you take it away from me

I've lost phones, and had one break, and I was without for an extended period of time, and I dealt with it. But if I am in possession of one, I am a pathetic, addicted loser!

[SomethingFishy]

5. There is a flaw in this "research"..

The researcher seems to think I actually want to interact with people. Meaningful Communication? When in the hell do I get that when interacting with people?


This is nothing different than "dime store novels are destroying our youth" "comic books are destroying our youth" "rock and roll is destroying our youth" "video games are destroying our youth"...

In "A Million Ways To Die In The West", Seth McFarland and Givoanni Ribisi are talking and they see a kid hitting a "wheel" with a stick, rolling it down the street, McFarland says "I read where those wheels are ruining our kids attention spans"...

[GeorgeGist]

6. In the presence of a mobile device ...

means that NSA is listening.

[Fred Sanders]

7. Well, there is that too, the wilful surrender of privacy is astonishing.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

8. Who me stewpid you calling? Makes sense no to me.

[Blue_Adept]

11. I communicate better when I have a beer in my hand.

That makes me smarter.

[mindwalker_i]

12. There have been a couple recent times at restaurants

I saw a woman and who I think was her mother, in her 60s or 70s. The woman spend all her time texting. Her mother looked really sad, and it kind of broke my heart. More recently, I was waiting for a burger to get cooked and someone came in with two young girls, then played on her phone. You know, if you're going to have kids, pay attention to them.

Seeing how people ignore those they supposedly love and are family with, preferring to text, is just sad.

[NightWatcher]

13. Did you read the research? Seemed kinda weak and vague, maybe even spurious in methodology

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between the presence of mobile devices and the quality of real-life in-person social interactions. In a naturalistic field experiment, 100 dyads were randomly assigned to discuss either a casual or meaningful topic together. A trained research assistant observed the participants unobtrusively from a distance during the course of a 10-min conversation noting whether either participant placed a mobile device on the table or held it in his or her hand. Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling, it was found that conversations in the absence of mobile communication technologies were rated as significantly superior compared with those in the presence of a mobile device, above and beyond the effects of age, gender, ethnicity, and mood. People who had conversations in the absence of mobile devices reported higher levels of empathetic concern. Participants conversing in the presence of a mobile device who also had a close relationship with each other reported lower levels of empathy compared with dyads who were less friendly with each other. Implications for the nature of social life in ubiquitous computing environments are discussed.

http://eab.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/05/31/0013916514539755.abstract

I don't see how trying to quantify empathy of a subject is related to the quality of in person conversations, nor do I see how that means the phone makes you less smart. But I guess it was a catchy headline and it generated click traffic to their site and research.